The Truth from FIDO

From FIDO’s website:

Too many people allowing their dogs off-leash ON the ball fields. Morning work crews would prefer not to encounter off-leash dogs. This is perceived by Park officials to be caused by dog owners making their way around the ball fields with off-leash dogs who STILL wander down and bother ball field workers.

So as of today all dogs MUST remain on-leash AND on a path (!) when entering the Long Meadow from Prospect Park SouthWest; Prospect Park West south of Ninth Street and Bartold Pritchard Square. You must remain on-leash until you cross the Ninth Street path into the Long Meadow. For you sidewalk lawyers out there: if you're already coming down the Ninth Street path past the inner drive, you're OK if you're off-leash in the grass to the left of the path.

. . . .

Because less than a half dozen people weren't willing to control their dogs for a few hundred feet, everyone loses.

. . . .

What made FIDO in Prospect Park viable ten years ago was that a committed bunch of dog owners gathered together with Park administration to work out the basic off-leash rules that were essentially the rules we know today. . . . .

If you aee serious about responsible off-leash, we ask that you become a member of FIDO. While we have about four hundred members . . . .

Until everyone gets serious about standing up as a LARGE group committed to responsible off-leash rules, we're going to lose more and more off-leash space.

You saw it last week in the Nethermead - warning tickets handed out EVERY day of the week. . . . .

Afternoon off-leash in the Nethermead is not something Prospect Park's dog community demands as an "extra" over everyone else in the city but a return to a responsible weekday policy carefully worked out with the Prospect Park Alliance over ten years ago.

. . .

It was NEVER, EVER off-leash policy to allow dogs in the Nethermead on Weekends after 5 p.m. You will be ticketed!

You may receive warnings after 5 p.m. on weekdays and those who protest or make a stink will be ticketed as well. City Law states that all off-leash is to be from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. Park policy is that when those in authority ask you to leash up, even during off-leash hours, you MUST comply. . . .

So:

1. Surprise! Owners are letting their dogs wander onto ballfields. Only a “half dozen”? We don’t think so. And what about owners letting their dogs bother horses on bridle paths, as reported recently in The Times?

2. And just because owners are letting their dogs do this, they may not be unleashed until they get onto the Long Meadow? You mean if it weren’t for dogs on the ballfields, it would be OK to unleash dogs BEFORE they got onto the Long Meadow? The Long Meadow is a designated area; areas outside it are not. We don’t get it.

3. So FIDO, this great organization representing Brooklyn 50,000 (or is it 500,000?) dog owners, has all of 400 members. Talk about influence disproportionate to numbers.

4. A chunk of the current off-leash travesty is a “responsible weekday policy carefully worked out with the Prospect Park Alliance over ten years ago.” What’s this about a “successful 20-year policy”?

5. It says that that “warning tickets” are being handed out on the Nethermead on weekdays and warns “you will be ticketed”. It doesn’t say anything about real summonses actually having been handed out (or say precisely who is handing either out).